Immersive Sounds

What has long been a central theme in the film and gaming industry is also becoming increasingly interesting for the concert and music theatre sector and a dynamic driver of innovation for art and technology: immersive sound concepts. The history of such concepts does not just begin with technical developments such as the Fantasound system at Walt Disney Studios in 1940, Le Corbusier's Philips Pavilion in 1958, Iannis Xenakis and Karlheinz Stockhausen or wave field synthesis and Dolby Atmos. Rather, spatial sound concepts have been anchored in global music history for centuries in a wide variety of forms and formats. A line of development specifically linked to the performing arts, dance and opera has multiple connections to Dresden and HELLERAU: the origins of Richard Wagner's pioneering invention of the "invisible orchestra" in the Dresden Semperoper from 1843 and from 1876 in the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, which was taken up by Adolphe Appia and ingeniously expanded to include the aspects of light, space and movement in the Festspielhaus in Hellerau from 1911.

Under the label "Immersive Sounds", HELLERAU brings together projects that are dedicated to current and future technical developments in immersive art and music concepts in order to explore new potentials for accessibility and creativity and to expand listening, viewing and thinking habits. At the same time, the fascination and potential of immersive concepts as well as problematic references and developments will be critically scrutinised and discussed. Above all, however, HELLERAU aims to establish an experimental and presentation space as an interface between the now widespread sound dome settings and classical concert, dance and theatre spaces - not least against the backdrop of its own extraordinary history. Corresponding projects will be realised in collaborations and co-productions, residencies and open calls with institutions such as ZKM Karlsruhe, IRCAM Paris, Ars Electronica Linz, MUTEK/SAT/PHI Montreal, EMPAC New York, objekt-klein-a Dresden, Akademie für Theater und Digitalität Dortmund or the SANE network (ZIMMT Leipzig, 4DSOUND Amsterdam, MUSIC INNOVATION HUB Milano, INTORNO LABS Barcelona, etc.), but also with classical music institutions such as the ZKM and the IRCAM.and others), but also with classical ensembles such as the Staatskapelle Dresden and the vibrant independent theatre scene.